


Watching the Tide Roll Away

by Coldwaughter



Series: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay [1]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, M/M, episode tag: s03e14 the gentle art of making enemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 03:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9529934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coldwaughter/pseuds/Coldwaughter
Summary: He was beautiful like this, standing opposite to Oswald and holding a gun.





	

“I made you.” He said gleefully, the chatter around him that had been threatening to deafen him quieting down enough for him to properly take in Ed's expression. It was the truth. He had crafted this figure in front of him from a fumbling nobody who had accidentally started killing into something more deadly, more capable of using all of that intelligence that Oswald knew he had. It hadn't taken much admittedly, just careful pushes in the right directions and visits in Arkham. That had been the easy part. 

The sound of the waves around him brought flashes of memories back. He had been in this position before but with someone who he could trust to do the Right Thing. He could trust Ed but not in the same way, no, there was something much different with him. He loved him, would take a bullet for him but he didn't have the same faith that Ed wouldn't point the barrel somewhere else before pulling that trigger. He'd been broken down, went from King of Gotham City and Mayor to someone who couldn't quite manage to make the words go from his head and out of his mouth. His ease was gone and his riddle-man would be lost to him again.

It had taken Edward a while to warm to him and start conversing back but once he did it was like a wall had been torn down between the two of him. He could see more about Ed than he ever had before and he was certain that it went both ways as well. In Arkham he was suffering, forced to apply his brains to keep the inmates there appeased for his own benefit but if he was let back loose on Gotham with careful control? That could be a wonderful thing indeed. 

Standing opposite to Oswald with a gun was simply an extension of that wonderful thing. He was beautiful like this, everything that Oswald had ever dreamed he would be. “I made you.” He repeated to himself a bit more quietly. Even if nobody else knew what he had done this would be a thing for him to be proud of until the end of his days. He had built this Edward Nygma up from the bottom, taken him in and molded him to be one of the greats. This Edward could be a god amongst men, and he had made him that way.

**Author's Note:**

> Song title comes from "Sitting on the dock of the bay". The version I like is the Billy Valentine and Forest Rangers one from the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack.  
> I really wanted to write something focusing on Oswald's line that he "made" Edward because I loved that so, so much. I loved the comparison with Fish and the way the line was said and all of the implications.


End file.
